Penn State University Libraries - Times of Sorrow and Hope

In conjunction with the website, the Penn State Press has published a book entitled Times of Sorrow and Hope: Documenting Everyday Life in Pennsylvania During the Depression and World War II by Allen Cohen and Ronald L. Filippelli with a Foreword by Miles Orvell.

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Between 1935 and 1944, a group of photographers working for the federal government fanned out across the country to record American life in pictures. This massive photographic project was carried out primarily under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI). In their FSA-OWI collection, The Library of Congress has accumulated over 164,000 photographs documenting the cultural environment and sense of national identity during the worst years of the Depression.

The Times of Sorrow and Hope website features a complete catalog of Pennsylvania photographs from the FSA-OWI collection. The catalog represents photographs taken by close to forty photographers in nearly two hundred Pennsylvania towns, villages, cities, and landmarks. This convenient resource is the result of a highly productive collaboration between the Pennsylvania State University Libraries and the Pennsylvania State University Press. Together, the website and book offer a unique, comprehensive visual and written record of Pennsylvania history as the state struggled through one of its darkest periods and confronted new economic, political, and social challenges.